Mutshamaxitulu na Yindlu ya wena leyo hlonipheka, Holobye wa Ndzawulo ya Vutshila na Ndhavuko, X andla xa Holobye, nhloko ya n dzawulo na vapfuni va wena hinkwavo, ndzi khensa nkarhi lowu ndzi nga nyikiwa wona sweswi. Ndzi lava ku burisana na n'wina hi timhaka ta nhlohlotelo wa swa vutshila na ndhavuko leswi khumbaka timhaka ta matimu ya tiko ra hina na hina vanhu va rona.
Timhaka ta ndhavuko ti khumba timhaka ta nkoka swinene eka rixaka rin'wana na rin'wana laha tikweni ra hina ra Afrika-Dzonga. Ti khumba matimu ya hina ni lomu hi tumbulukaka kona; matikhomelo na mitolovelo ya hina evuton'wini bya hina bya masiku hinkwawo; na ririmi leri hi vulavulaka rona tanihi rixaka rero.
Swi na nkoka ku hoyozela mfumo wa hina wa xidemokirasi loko wu khutaza na ku hlohlotela timhaka ta nhluvukiso eka swa ndhavuko na swa tindzimi ta hina ta xintima hinkwato laha tikweni ra hina ra Afrika-Dzonga. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Mr D W MAVUNDA: Chairperson of this honourable House, Minister of Arts and Culture, Deputy Minister, director-general and your assistants, I am thankful for the time given to me now. I would like to discuss with you matters related to the promotion of arts and culture in the context of the history of our country and its people.
Cultural matters are significant in each and every community of South Africa. These matters involve our history and where we originate, our conduct and practices in our daily life, and the language we speak as a community.
It is important to applaud our democratic government for its support and promotion of matters relating to the development of culture and all the indigenous languages of South Africa.]
We feel very proud of our democratic government for mandating the Department of Arts and Culture to act as a catalyst and to create an enabling environment to promote and develop South African arts, culture and heritage in general. Hence we have cultural, religious and linguistic commissions such as PanSALB, and other boards.
The department has since created a cultural development programme in order to provide strategic support for the cultural industries value chain for human capital development; to conduct research and innovation; and to develop policies and strategies that will create and sustain an enabling environment and improve the regulatory framework and cultural industries.
Through this subprogramme the department increases access for and participation by arts and culture practitioners with regard to national and international cultural events. The department also increases job opportunities and stimulates the economy through running art exhibitions at a national level.
We are also informed that the focus is placed on craft, technical services, music, books and publishing, as well as research and development. This is a crosscutting function in this subprogramme.
One of the key highlights of the Cultural Development subprogramme is to establish the art bank, which will be responsible for procuring and creating six national artworks and six national events to be piloted and 26 nationally supported events.
As alluded to before, there is the Investing in Culture subprogramme. It promotes job creation, skills development and economic empowerment and supports business start-ups and poverty alleviation projects.
The bulk of the budget in this subprogramme is transferred to poverty alleviation projects that provide empowerment opportunities in the second economy for the unemployed through training and job creation in arts, culture and heritage.
Initially, such transfers were disbursed on the basis of business plans and agreements between the department and individuals or groups of contractors. However, we understand that this subprogramme has been absorbed into the Mzansi Golden Economy strategy from the 2012-13 financial year and is included in this cultural development subprogramme.
We also have the International Co-operation subprogramme, which manages South Africa's cultural participation in bilateral and multilateral activities. The subprogramme promotes the national arts, culture and heritage presence in the international arena and builds international partnerships. In the 2010-11 financial year the focus was placed on the approval of the African Union and Southern African Development Community of common policies and directives concerning arts and culture.
The development and promotion of culture and heritage between various generations can enhance social cohesion at both local and national level. Therefore, ceremonies and festivals that mark different stages of human development at individual, community and national level need to be celebrated as such.
The achievement of this community participation is of great importance with regard to local level planning in particular. Communities across borders and between countries also share events, ceremonies and festivals.
Like all nations, we are the product of politics, history, culture and social and economic processes. Therefore, we are bound to encounter challenges as we forge forward with transformation.
The institutionalisation of multilingualism in South Africa is not without its own challenges. Some people will argue that language is a very sensitive and emotive issue. Therefore, we have to demonstrate tolerance and mutual respect for all our languages, including sign language and the other indigenous languages spoken by the minority communities like the Khoi, Nama and San.
One cannot separate language from culture. Therefore, language is an instrument for promoting and developing our cultural and living heritage in South Africa. The Constitution of our democratic government has placed a lot of emphasis on this matter by creating a statutory body like PanSALB to monitor the equitable advancement of our recognised languages, among other things.
Furthermore, section 6(2) of our Constitution recognises the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people and the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate status and advance the use of these indigenous languages. Therefore the South African Languages Bill, among other things, seeks to promote parity of esteem and equitable treatment of all official languages of the Republic as contemplated in our Constitution.
Those South Africans who think that language and culture are emotional matters to deal with need a mental panel-beating to align them with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. [Laughter.]
We therefore support the idea that each recognised South African language should be given the necessary support by this department to develop and sustain its role in our community.
In conclusion, the Budget Vote under discussion today, in our view, provides inadequate funding to do all these things that we need as a country. We are aware that the department has tried to carry out its mandate to deliver transformation in the arts, culture and heritage sector despite a legacy of fragmentation and limited resources. We are therefore very proud indeed that through the ANC-led government the doors of learning and culture have been opened to all of us. [Interjections.]
Nkulukumba Mutshamaxitulu, ku vulavula i xongela n'wini, naswona ku dya ngopfu a hi ku hlula ndlala. Ndzi gimeta mbulavulo wa mina kwala, hi ku seketela nkavelo wa ndzawulo leyi handle ka swipimelo. Inkomu. [Ku biwa mavoko.] (Translation of Xitsonga paragraph follows.)
[Hon Chairperson, self-praise is no recommendation and talking at great length does not attempt to being knowledgeable. This is where I conclude my speech, in unconditional support of the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]]